Alan, I picked up a factoid from an article about John Ringo in this month's True West: He wrote in Spenserian script. Indeed, the term calligraphy was applied to his handwriting in the article. Wouldn't have known what Spenserian script was if not for discussion here on the blog over the past few days. I always learn something here on the blog!
Platt Rogers Spencer, as I recall, taught himself to write, and developed a style based on forms he observed in nature (ovals, waves, curves, branches etc). The full-blown Spencerian form depends on using very flexible nibs; there were some comparable ones available in very early English fountain pens, but nowadays they must be custom made. They are still available as dip pen nibs for calligraphers. The amazing thing is that the arm does/did not rest on the desk--it was suspended in the air over the paper! Austin Palmer was an expert Spencerian penman, but at his first real job (in a railway office) taught him that the working clerks used a modified style of Spencerian that was faster, easier, and less tiring. They could write hour after hour, day after day, year after year. Palmer adapted and refined their adaptations into his own method of writing. Spencerian was the standard for business writing in the US for about fifty years; Palmer perhaps somewhat longer. It's all quite interesting. Glad to be of assistance.
For penmanship practice warmup I have been copying Ursula K. Leguin's short story The First Contact With the Gorgonids. It' a bit dated as feminist literature, but I highly recommend it; really fine understated, or perhaps better "oblique" humor. A real gem.
If my pen doesn't choke on the last line! I had to check the lyrics to Give My Regards to Broadway to fully decipher the pun! (In my defense, I at least recognized enough of it to remember the source.)
American Migration Patterns Should Terrify the GOP [Click] “Millennial movers have hastened the growth of left-leaning metros in southern red states such as Texas, Arizona, and Georgia. It could be the biggest political story of the 2020s.”
Kitty has the right idear.
ReplyDeleteRIP Cokie Roberts, 75....complications of breast cancer.
ReplyDeletehttps://abcnews.go.com/US/legendary-journalist-political-commentator-cokie-roberts-dies-75/story?id=65633507
Alan, I picked up a factoid from an article about John Ringo in this month's True West: He wrote in Spenserian script. Indeed, the term calligraphy was applied to his handwriting in the article. Wouldn't have known what Spenserian script was if not for discussion here on the blog over the past few days. I always learn something here on the blog!
ReplyDelete👍
DeleteFunny that I read your post and thought: 'I went to school with a guy named Paul George.'
The John Ringo born in 1963?
DeletePlatt Rogers Spencer, as I recall, taught himself to write, and developed a style based on forms he observed in nature (ovals, waves, curves, branches etc). The full-blown Spencerian form depends on using very flexible nibs; there were some comparable ones available in very early English fountain pens, but nowadays they must be custom made. They are still available as dip pen nibs for calligraphers. The amazing thing is that the arm does/did not rest on the desk--it was suspended in the air over the paper! Austin Palmer was an expert Spencerian penman, but at his first real job (in a railway office) taught him that the working clerks used a modified style of Spencerian that was faster, easier, and less tiring. They could write hour after hour, day after day, year after year. Palmer adapted and refined their adaptations into his own method of writing. Spencerian was the standard for business writing in the US for about fifty years; Palmer perhaps somewhat longer. It's all quite interesting. Glad to be of assistance.
Perhaps he's better known as Johnny Ringo, a gunfighter.
DeleteThe Mysterious Death of John Ringo - Click
Oh, a gunfighter who died in 1882, not the science fiction writer born in 1963; [Click] that makes a lot more sense.
DeleteFor penmanship practice warmup I have been copying Ursula K. Leguin's short story The First Contact With the Gorgonids. It' a bit dated as feminist literature, but I highly recommend it; really fine understated, or perhaps better "oblique" humor. A real gem.
ReplyDeleteAh, yes. I remember laughing myself almost sick when I finally got it.
DeleteP.S. I'm sometimes rather slow on the uptake.
DeleteIf you can find it, Asimov's story "Death of a Foy" might make for good penmanship practice.
DeleteIf my pen doesn't choke on the last line! I had to check the lyrics to Give My Regards to Broadway to fully decipher the pun! (In my defense, I at least recognized enough of it to remember the source.)
DeleteAmerican Migration Patterns Should Terrify the GOP [Click] “Millennial movers have hastened the growth of left-leaning metros in southern red states such as Texas, Arizona, and Georgia. It could be the biggest political story of the 2020s.”
ReplyDeleteUN hosts drive to suck back carbon and reverse climate change [Click]
ReplyDeleteFirst measurements of 'interstellar comet' [Click]
ReplyDeleteOops—it looks like Biden is a second-tier candidate in terms of cash on hand. [Click] Bernie, Pete and Warren all have significant lead over him. This reflects his previously reported flash-in-the-pan fundraising pattern.
ReplyDelete